Indie Spotlight: Karen Elson

On her debut disc, The Ghost Who Walks, Karen Elson spins intriguingly unsettling tales of lost love, dashed hope, romantic betrayal and various crimes of passion witnessed only by the full moon. In a coolly inviting voice, strumming an acoustic guitar, she summons up a dark yet seductive atmosphere, an after-midnight world that’s irresistibly alluring. Until now, the British-born Elson has been better known as a model. In 2005 she married Jack White, and she moved with him to Nashville, where they are now raising two children. As a singer/songwriter, Elson worked behind closed doors, even keeping her songs from White. But one day he heard her singing and asked Elson to play what she’d been doing for him. White urged Elson to follow her instincts: “He was beyond supportive about it. He produced the record and obviously encouraged me profusely, but he never changed anything or said ‘you need to do this.’ If anything, it was like, ‘you need to believe in yourself, have some faith.’”